No sooner does Lou Lamoriello send his team a “Shut Up” message by disciplining outspoken Mike Danton than his reigning three-time leading scorer complains of being underused.

It will be enlightening to see how Lamoriello and coach Pat Burns react to Patrik Elias’ comments following the Devils’ 2-1 victory in Buffalo Friday.

“It’s frustrating. I would like to see myself be out there in more, or different, positions,” Elias told The Post after the Devils raised their record to 5-1.

Elias is the lone remnant of the “A” Line that was the scourge of the league before Jason Arnott and Petr Sykora were separately traded away this calendar year. Now Elias is searching for himself.

“I know what I’m capable of. I’ve been used in every situation, killing five-on-threes, end of the game,” Elias complained. “If Jay Pandolfo would have been playing, I don’t think I would have even been on the penalty kill tonight.

“They don’t know how it’s been for the last few years.”

In six games, Elias has two goals, both game-winners, and was credited with his first assist Friday. It almost seems his new $4.5 million salary is weighing on him. He readily admits the loss of the “A” Line hurts.

“It’s harder than I thought it was going to be. You don’t realize what you have until you lose it,” Elias said.

“I’d like to get more chances to get back to the way I’m capable of playing. I know I have to work a little more,” Elias admitted. “It felt better today. I played a lot more on the walls, and I haven’t been doing that.”

With the Devils, it is becoming clear that the glass is half-full. Elias is slumping, Joe Nieuwendyk has yet to score a goal, the power play is the league’s worst at 2-for-36, and still they stood 5-1 for last night’s showdown against the unbeaten Lightning at the Meadowlands.

Each of the Devils’ five victories had come by one goal, running off to their gaudy start on a 13-10 season goal-advantage. On Friday, Sergei Brylin’s winner gave him the team lead with three goals.

Yet is was a record rarity that proved the night’s highlight. Ken Daneyko snapped his NHL-record 256-game goal drought by opening the scoring in the first.

“He came back to the bench and said to the guys, ‘If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will,'” Burns related.

“Yeah, I’m a pretty [screwed] up guy. I was excited,” Daneyko said. “Obviously they’re few and far between. I look at it like an offensive lineman who scores once every five years. A blind squirrel finds an acorn.

“I took the puck for my son. It might be the last of my career.”

Daneyko last scored in the regular season on Feb. 9, 1999, against Vancouver at the Meadowlands. He went without a goal in each of the past three seasons, and 4-of-5. During the record regular-season drought, he did score a playoff goal in the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals.

The Devils have not scored more than three goals in a game this season, but have not yielded more than that. They are scoring few, and giving up less. Relying on Daneyko’s offense is not the strategy of regular success, so Elias wants take care of his duty. It will be curiously to see what the fallout of this will be.

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After taking his second penalty of the night in the third, Danton was replaced by double-shifting Nieuwendyk for his line’s final shift. Burns said he wanted more experience on-ice in the final minutes to protect the one-goal lead. Danton was coming back from one-game banishment for expressing his displeasure at being scratched in Carolina Oct. 19 … Devils play host to Carolina Tuesday.